A:
Account Retention: Keeping a customer account. A clean vending machine, that is continuously operational, and well stocked with fresh quality products will increase your account retention.
Accounting Period: Time period on which you base your regular reports. It can be monthly, quarterly or even weekly.
Accounts Payable: Money owed to a vendor.
Accounts Receivable: Money the vendor owes for delivery of product.
Administration Fee: A fee paid to cover general expenses and overhead.
Auger: The spiral that pushes the product forward in a snack vending machine.
Automatic Merchandiser: A fancy way of saying vending machine.
B:
Bank: 1)A row of two or more vending machines. 2) Coins always left in a vending machine to make change.
Bar Code: The parallel lines used to electronically track product. Also called a UPC code.
Bean to Cup: Term for a coffee vending machine that actually grinds the bean to fulfill an individual purchase.
Bag-in-Box or BIB: A method of delivering cold drinks by using syrup bags in a box.
Bill Acceptor or Bill Validator: The device in a vending machine that accepts and reads paper money. Also just called a validator.
Bin or Slot: Separated area in a vending machine for a specific product. Can be called a column in a drink vending machine or a spiral in a snack vending machine using an auger.
Bottler Serviced Machines: Beverage vending machines serviced by the beverage bottling company.
Bulk Operator: A company or person that specializes in bulk vending.
Bulk Vending: Vending of gum balls, stickers, small toys or trinkets that are unwrapped and dispensed in a measured amount.
C:
Capacity: The maximum amount of product that any given slot (spiral or column) can hold.
Change Fund: 1)Coins carried by a route man to replenish the bank in a machine. 2) Sometimes used as another term for bank, meaning the coins left in a machine so it can make change.
Changer: A stand alone machine that only makes change.
Channel of Distribution: Term for the types of businesses that are the locations for vending machines. For example; grocery stores, convenience stores, hotels, office buildings.
Charity sponsorship: An agreement with a charity to pay a percentage of profit to the charity in exchange for use of the organization’s logo on the vending machine. The charity sponsorship can be a strong selling point at point of sale and for securing locations.
Client: The location of a vending machine or the owner of that location.
Coin Cup: The opening where a customer gets his change in a vending machine.
Coin Mechanism: The part of a vending machine that counts the coins inserted and dispenses change. Coin mechanisms can be mechanical or electric.
Coin Return: The button you push on a vending machine to get money already inserted back.
Coin Slot: Opening where you put coins in a vending machine.
Cold Drink Machine: Vending machine that dispenses canned or bottled cold drinks.
Combination or Combo Vending Machine: A machine that delivers more than type of product, for example snacks and beverages.
Commission: A percentage of sales paid to the owner of a location for the right to place a vending machine.
Confections: A term for sweets or candies.
Concession Advance: Commission paid in advance as incentive when obtaining new locations. Also called location advance.
Cycle: How long it takes a machine to vend a single unit.
D:
Decor: Non-functional decorations on or around vending machines.
Delisting: No longer carrying a product.
Delivery Box/Tray: The box where the product is delivered in a vending machine.
DEX: Data EXchange. Used to communicate data collected on the route.
Down Time: Time that a vending machine is not functional.
Dual Zone: A single vending machine that offers product with two different temperatures, for example snacks and cold drinks.
E:
Escrow: A term referring to the time that starts once money has been excepted in a vending machine and can still be returned back to the customer. Once a product selection has been made, escrow has ended.
F:
FDA Model Code 1978: Ordinance and code specifically for vending.
FIFO: First In First Out. It means that the oldest product in a vending machine should be the first product delivered to a customer. If you restock a machine with new product being delivered first, the older product can get stale.
Free Standing: A single stand alone vending machine, not a bank.
Free Vend: Setting a vending machine to deliver product at no charge. Usually done as a perk for a good location at a company party or meeting. The free vend can be a gift to say thank you or you can agree to charge the company a reduced rate for the product delivered free to its employees at a later date.
Full Line Vending: A bank of vending machines that offer cold drink, coffee, snacks and food products.
G:
Glass Front Snack Machine: A vending machine with a glass front which allows the customer to visually select an item. Commonly used with snack machines utilizing a spiral or auger for delivery.
H:
Health and Safety: Referring to vending machines with perishable goods that must maintain a temperature within health and safety requirements.
High Capacity: A vending machine with increased product storage capacity.
Honor Box Vending: Vending snacks and drinks with no specific charge, but relying on people to pay for the product by putting money in a cash box.
I:
Installation: Delivering a vending machine to a location and doing everything needed to make it operational.
Installer: The person who installs vending equipment.
Inventory: 1) All of your product and equipment on hand. 2) The act of physically counting all of your product and equipment.
Invitation to Bid: When a company or location offers multiple vending services the chance to submit vending proposals.
J:
Jackpot: When a machine malfunctions and mistakenly dispenses product and/or change money without the costumer depositing any money.
K:
L:
Lift gate: Device on the back of a truck used to move heavy equipment from the truck bed to the ground.
Locating company: A business whose main focus is selling vendor locations to vending business owners.
Location: The exact place a vending machine is placed.
Location Acquisition Costs: Costs in excess of normal operating expenses deems necessary for acquiring or keeping a location.
Location Manager: 1)The vending company representative responsible for one particular client installation. 2) The person designated but the location as in charge of vending related decisions.
Location Owned Vending Operations: When a big company, office complex, or school for example run their own vending operations.
Locater: A person who finds locations for vending machines.
M:
Maintenance: Scheduled work to maintain a machine, not fixing a broken machine. Maintenance is better than repair.
Manual Vending Machine: A vending machine that operates mechanically.
Manufacturer or O.E.M.: Company that makes the vending machines for vending.
Marginal Location: Vending machine locations that are barely profitable if at all.
Merchandising: Selecting the best combination of products to offer at a specific vending location.
Meter: A device that counts and records the number of vending cycles.
Multi-Drop-Bus or MDB: Protocol which interconnects bill acceptors, card readers, and coin changers all into one.
N:
N.A.M.A.or National Automatic Merchandising Association: The largest vending trade organization.
Non-Par: A term for restocking a machine with more or less product than normal. Restocking a machine with less than par since the location will be closed for holidays for much of the time until the next restocking would be non-par.
O:
O.C.S. or Office Coffee System: A coffee system usually used as a perk to help secure and keep profitable locations. It can be a simple brewer and burner or a complex system with many coffee and non-coffee hot drink options.
O.E.M. or Original Equipment Manufacturer: Company that makes the vending machines for vending.
O.O.O. or Out of Order: When a machine is not working.
Operator: The person or company that owns the vending business.
Out of Stock: When a product is temporarily unavailable.
P:
Par: The normal amount of inventory you want to keep in a machine. When restocking you refill to par which will be replacing all the inventory sold since the last restocking.
Par Out: A term for a normal service stop at a machine. It involved collecting the money, filling the coin mechanism with change and restocking the product to par.
Planogram: A diagram of specific locations for specific products in a vending machine used to maximize sales.
Product: Whatever is being sold in the vending machine.
Product markup: The difference between the cost of the product and the selling price.
Q:
R:
Refund: Return of customer money lost in malfunctioning equipment without product delivery.
R.O.I. or Return on Investment: The amount of money earned after all expenses including taxes by a person or company in relation to the total amount of money invested. Usually ROI is expressed as a percentage.
Route: A series of vending locations on a prescribed path that are serviced by a single route person on a regular basis.
Route Person: The person who is responsible for a particular vending route.
Route Structuring: Designing routes to maximize efficiency.
S:
Satellite Vending Machine or Slave Machine:- A vending machine that uses another host vending machine to manage the coinage and control systems.
Service Call: Going to a broken vending machine to hopefully get it operational.
Shelf Life: How much time a product has before it becomes unusable.
Shrinkage: Loss of product due to theft.
Single Zone: A vending machine with a single refrigeration temperature range.
S.K.U. or Stock Keeping Unit: A unique code number used to identify each specific type of product.
Slotting: A fee charged by vending operators to a product suppliers to guarantee placement of their product in machines.
Slugs: Any coin shaped object that is not a U.S. coin used to try and fool the coin mechanism.
Snacks: Generic term for chips, candy bars, peanuts and other convenience foods for eating between meals.
Snack Machine: A vending machine that sells chips, nuts and other snack food.
Spiral: Most popular in glass front snack vending machines, the spiral turns to dispense the product and pushes other product forward. Also called an auger.
Spoilage: How often a product spoils(is no longer consumable) in relation to how often it sells. If you sell 95 of an item for every 5 you have to throw out then that product has a spoilage of 5%.
Stops: Each location on a route is a stop.
T:
T-Handle: The lockable door handle on a vending machine.
Telemetry: Wireless transferal of data from vending machines to a database.
U:
U.L. or Underwriters Laboratory: An independent product safety testing organization that will certify that your machines meet federal standards.
UPC or Universal Product Code: The parallel lines used to electronically track product. Also called a bar code.
V:
Validator: The device in a vending machine that accepts and reads paper money. Also called Bill Validator or Bill Acceptor.
Vend: A single sale of an item.
Vends: Term for the number of times a product is sold in a machine.
Vendible Packaging: Packaging on a product that makes it usable in a vending machine.
Vending: To sell by use of a mechanical device.
Vending Machine: A coin or bill operated machine that dispenses product.
Vending Operator: A company or person that specializes in stocking and servicing vending machines.